Car-fender.



A. J. THORNLEY.

GAR FENDER.

APPLICATION FILED .TUNE 7. 1909.

Patented Ju1y 19,1910@ [NVM/TOR 7 Alofney 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A. L THORNLBY.

CAR FENDER.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 7l 1901-?.

Patented July 19, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

@LV1 @one 1H: Namus Pernis cm, wAsmNcTmv, me.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

.ALBERT J'. THORNLEY, OF PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR T0CONSOLIDATED CAR FENDER COMPANY, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, ACORPORATION OF RHODE ISLAND.

CAR-FENDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 19, 1910.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT J. THORNLEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Pawtucket, in the county of Providence and State of RhodeIsland, have invented a new and usefullmprovement in Car-Fenders, ofwhich the following is a specication.

This invention relates to the class of car fenders, and moreparticularly to those devices which are secured below the car justforward of the front truck or to the truck itself and are released ordropped by strike mechanism located near the extreme front of the car asis illustrated and described in the application filed by me on the 29thday of April, 1909, Serial'No. 492,816.

The object of this invention is to improve the general construction andoperation of the fenders of this class, attention being particularlydirected toward the mechanism for actuating the release of the fenders.

A further object of this invention is to provide a release or tripmechanism which is operable with equal efficiency on straight tracks orcurves.

With other objects, as will hereinafter appear, in view, my inventionwill be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, whichform a part of this specification, and in which,

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional elevation through the car showing thefender attached therebelow, Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken onthe line 2 2 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3 isa detail side view of the trip mechanism, Fig. 4 is a detail View of theupper end of the fender, Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the toothedmember by means of which the fender is held in the raised position, andFig. 6 is a detail view showing a modified form of connection used inthe release mechanism.

With particular reference to the drawings in which like numeralsindicate like parts, l indicates the outside beams of the car body and 2the intermediate beams or stringers parallel thereto. When the fender isused on short cars the depending hangers 3 are secured by bolts orotherwise to the beams 2 and carry bolted or otherwise fastened to theirlower ends the cross beam 4. When used on long cars in which the trucksare free to swivel on the car body the hangers 3 are dispensed with andthe beam 4C is secured directly to the forward extension of the trucks4: indicated in broken lines in Fig. 1. Secured to the cross beam A bymeans of bolts are the brackets 5 to which the fender 6 is pivotallysecured, said brackets 5 having forwardly projecting bearings 7 to whichare bolted or otherwise journaled the brackets 8 which are secured tothe rod 9 and comprise the hanging members of the fender 6. Saidbrackets substantially inclose said rod 9 and are bolted thereto, andare provided with upright extensions or wings 10 which extend upwardlyand rearwardly from the fender and are provided with a curved slotll'whose function will hereinafter appear. The cross bar also supports,either as separate elements or as a part of the brackets 5, the boxings12 in which are seated the ends of the coiled springs 13, the oppositeends of which bear against the fender at the upper edges of the brackets8; 111 is a disk or block which has provided on its periphery a lug ortooth l5 and has a central aperture by means of which it is adjustablybolted in said slot 11 of the vertical wings 10, said tooth beingadapted to be engaged by release mechanism of the fender.

The brackets 5 are provided at their upper ends with wings or extensions16 which project upwardly and forwardly to overhang and extend adjacentthe wings 10 carried by the fender brackets. Said wings 16 carry attheir upper projecting ends, a transverse shaft 17, bearings beingprovided therefor to permit rotation thereof. Said shaft 17 is square atits ends and carries collared thereon the pawls 18 which are formed withsplit collars and clamped upon said shafts 17 by means of tighteningbolts. Said pawls 18 extend downwardly and rearwardly and engage behindthe teeth 15, carried by said fender brackets 8, when the fender israised, and are adapted to release said teeth and consequently thefender when the shaft 17 is rotated clockwise to raise said pawls 18.

Midway of its length the shaft 17 is provided with an arm 19, said armbeing collared thereon and bolted or clamped to secure it rigidly inposition. Said arm 19 is formed to extend upwardly and rearwardly fromsaid shaft 17, and has at its upper end a ring-bearing 20 and arearwardly extending finger 21. In Fig. G is shown an arm in which aslotted connection 20 is shown which may be used instead of thering-bearing 2O shown in Fig. 1. Secured by one of its ends to saidfinger 21, is a coil spring 22 whose opposite end is secured to thecross beam 4 in any suitable manner. Said spring 22 exerts a tension onsaid armto maintain the pawls 18 in their depressed position behind theteeth 15.

The trip or release mechanism is mounted in front of the fender asufficient distance away therefrom to permit a perfect drop of thefender before an object would be struck thereby. Depending from theoutside beams 1 of the car body are the hangers 23 in the lower ends ofwhich are journaled the ends of a shaft 24 for rotation therein as bybearings 25. Said shaft 24 carries rigidly secured thereto the sockets26 which have vertical slideways in which `are adjustably mounted thevertical rods 27. Said rods 27 carry on their lower ends the clamps 28in which are secured the ends and intermediate portion of a trip bar 29.Said trip bar comprises a longitudinal metallic bar having its ends bentupwardly and rearwardly in U-shape and is adjusted, in practice, to hangfar enough above the ground or trackway to obstruct the passage ofobstacles below the car. Said shaft 24 has a third bearing in adepending bracket 30, which comprises a base plate 31, and a verticalbearing plate 32. Said bracket 30 is mounted upon a supporting plank 31,the latter being securely mounted transversely on the beams 2. Saidbracket has formed on the under side of the base plate 31 a slideway 33in which a T-bar 34 is horizontally slidable. Said -bar extendslengthwise of the car and is connected to t-he aforesaid arm 19 carriedby the shaft 17 by means of the rod 35 and link 36 by means of linkjoints, the former being supported` on a hanger 37 secured to the carbody. The sliding T-bar 34 is provided on its lower or depending edgewith a series of teeth 38 which are formed to have short substantiallyvertical forward faces 38 and long slanting rear faces 39. Rigidlymounted on the shaft 24, adjacent the bracket 30 is a shortnpwardly andrearwardly extending arm 40, which has pivotally secured to its upperend a weighted lever or gravity pawl 41, said gravity pawl having itsupper end conformed to the shape of the teeth 38, above described. Bythis arrangement the pawl 41 is always suspended a short space below theteeth 38, and is gravitally positionedk to be capable of engagementtherewith when carried upward.

From the above it is evident, that as the trip bar 29 with its clamp 28is swung rearwardly as by an obstruction on the track, the gravity pawl41 will be carried into engagement 'with the teeth 38, and uponcontinued movement of said pawl, the T-bar 34 will be carried forward inits slideway, with consequent movement of the arm 19 through theirintermediate connections; This movement of the arm 19 rotates said shaft17 to raise the pawls 18, thereby dropping the fender G.

It is evident that in the above described mechanism certain changes maybe made in details of construction without departure from the scope ofmy invention.

Having thus described my claim as new Patent g* 1. A wheel Car fender,comprising, in combination, a fender, means for pivotally supportingsaid fender below a car, a shaft carried by said supporting means, meanscarried by said shaft and releasably holding said fender above theground, a trip mounted for oscillation below the car, a channeledslide-way located above said trip, a slidable member fitted in saidslide-way and movable above said trip, and flexibly connected to saidfender holding means, and means carried by said trip and adapted to bedrawn into momentary engagement with said slidable member at differentpointson its length to release said fender.

2. A wheel car fender, comprising in combination, a fender, brackets forpivotally mounting the fender below the car, springs carried by saidbrackets and bearing against said fender to exert a normal downwardpressure, a shaft mounted in said brackets, pawls carried by said shaft,and engaging said fender to elevate it above the ground, a trip mountedfor oscillation below the car, a slidable member mounted above said tripand independent thereof, rod connections between said fender andslidable member, and means secured to said trip and adapted tomomentarily engage said sliding member to release said fender.

3. A wheel car fender, comprising, in combination, a fender brackets forpivotally mounting thefender below the car, springs carried by saidbrackets and bearing against said fender to exert a normal downwardpressure, a shaft mounted in said brackets, pawls carried by said shaft,and engaging said fender to elevate it above the ground, a trip mountedfor oscillation below the car, a slidable member mounted above said tripand independent thereof, rod connections between said fender andslidable member, and means secured to said trip and adapted tomomentarily engage said sliding member to release said fender, saidreleasing means comprising a pivoted pawl carried by said trip andadapted to be thrown into engagement with said slidable member to carryit forward to trip said fender.

4. A wheel car fender, comprising in colnbination, a fender, bracketsfor pivotally supporting said fender below the car, a shaft mounted insaid brackets, pawls carried by said shaft and engaging said fenderinvention, I and desire to secure by Letters to elevate it above theground, a trip mounted for oscillation below the car, a slidable membermounted below said car and adjacent said trip, teeth formed on saidslidable member on its underside, aweighted pawl carried by said tripand adapted to engage said teeth to slide said member` when the trip isoscillated.

5. A wheel car fender, comprising, in combination, a fender, means forpivotall supporting said fender below a oar, a shait carried by saidsupportin` means, means carried by said shaft and reeasably holding saidfender above the ground,atrip mounted for oscillation below the car, aslidable member mounted above said trip, flexible connections betweensaid member and said shaft, and means for momentarily connecting saidtrip and said slidable member to release said fender, said slidablemember b e= ing formed to present dierent ones of its longitudinalpoints above said trip according to the posit-ion of the car.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing Witnesses.

ALBERT J. THORNLEY. Witnesses:

ADA E. HAGERTY, J. A. MILLER.

